Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1887-08-25
Expensive Locomotive Sparks.
[From the Chicago Herald

From the Chicago HERALD
II have been in my Office chair here
for just one hour, and have been able
to do nothing else than open dispatches
telling me of the havoc being caused
all along our line by prairie fires, said
the veteran General Manager Of an i'm
portant railroad yesterday. As he spoke
he pointed to a waste-basket we'll filled
with yellow envelopes which had once
done service as wrappers for messages
from the wires. 'These dry times"
he continued, care to be feared by us,
as we have discovered by sad experience.
We are forced, as matter of self pro-
lection, to exercise great care in case
of prairie fires, for if the owner of any
property damaged by fire in the slight
est degre has pretext, be it ever 50
small, for damages, he Is going to move
heaven and earth to make us pay up.
The can be no question about the fact
that in majority Of cases prairie fires
are started By flying sparks from pass
ing engins. To that extent we are re-
ponslble, but we may be as careful as
possible in time of drouth and fires will
occur in spite of our most heroic efforts
to prevent them. You notice in our
time tables and in our book of rules for
the guidance of our help we have a
standing mandate to this effect EN-
ployes must assist in putting out fires,
set by engines or otherwise, and call up
on every person within reach to assist.
owe have found this prompt action
to be good policy, and very often incip-
lent blazes are checked before they
have time to spread. How do we ex-
tinguish the flames on the prairie? The
most common mode is to get our men
out with horses and plows, and have
them make three or four burrows around
the flaming portion of the meadow
That, of course, prevents the spread Of
the fire, which must soon burn itself
out. You know, it's all in taking it in
time and getting it under control. o.
tentimes, however, it becomes unman-
ageble before the men get to work, and
that where the damage comes in. /
have just received a telegram from a
place called Delevan describing the
course of fire through wheat field.
1t made path for itself through the
growing grain, not less than thirty feet
wide. That is an unusual thing, and
tends to show how intense the drouth
is this season.
'Did you know that farmers as a
class, in their dealings with railroads,
are blood-suckers? Well, that's what
they are After prairie fire big claims
for damages poor into this Office, and
it is next to useless to attempt to dis
pute their claims. Neighbors arc
brought in to prove the amount of dam.
age done in the interest of the claim.
ant, and they are as ready with their
afidavits as they are with thei long.
winded yarns in the interest of Their
claims. Not long ago a prairie fire
in Missouri swedt up to the fence of a
wealthy farmers orchard. 1t crept in
between the fence rails, through the
long, parched grnss and up to the fruit
trees, and scorched them pretty badly
We soon heard from the farmer, who
said he had 500 trees destroyed, and
he placed a value Of SO apiece on
them. On investigation we found that
there was a good deal of truth in the
farmers story, and we gave him a
check for 1000. What do you i'm.
imagine followed?. 1.-THE next season
the same trees on which the crop had
been destroyed, without any special
cultivation to speak Of, bore crop Of
fruit greatly in excess of anything they
had produced in previous seasons. No,
the farmer did not refund the S., ZOO
nor pay us for improving his orchard.
In point of improving the soil. there is
no Question that prairie fires are most
excellent thing"